The times they are a-changin' but The Moon is shining bright 40 years on

Well-known independent venues in Tallahassee have taken it on the chin recently.

The Bradfordville Blues Club, an authentic juke joint that felt like traveling back in time to The Chitin’ Circuit days, became the first Tallahassee institution to fall. Blues royalty such as Bobby Rush, Johnny Winter and Clarence Carter all played there. The cinderblock building in the woods was full of history and good vibes but couldn’t survive the 2023 fallout following the death of an original owner.

Juke joint blues: Oh, Mama, can this really be the end of the Bradfordville Blues Club? | Mark Hinson

I miss that place.

Last call: After 32 years, iconic tiki bar and restaurant, Waterworks abruptly closes

The delightfully eccentric Midtown tiki bar Waterworks, where thirsty patrons could catch jazz ensembles or dig live surf music, shuttered earlier this year. Book signings, a bingo-calling ape, an intentionally wooden Bastille Day-themed play, arty proms for former nerds all graced the gathering spot.

It was the kind of place where comedian Patton Oswalt, jazz guru Wynton Marsalis or Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) would drop by after a show. Waterworks owner Don Q. decided it was time to retire to the mountains of North Georgia and left behind a gaping hole in Tallahassee’s offbeat soul.

I miss that place.

In April, word was a front-end loader was set to tear down The Warehouse on Gaines Street, though it's still standing, covered in vines and graffiti and surrounded by fencing.

The most literate pool hall in the South, with its legacy of live fiction and poetry readings, is gone. The Mickee Faust comedy crew got its start at The Warehouse. The Flaming Lips, the amazing headliners at this year’s Word of South fest, got started there when they first arrived here from Oklahoma in the mid-‘80s. And that is just scratching the surface.

I miss that place.

Hey, but the city has plenty of new Blah Haus Architecture housing units to show!

There is one bright spot, though, when it comes to naming a venerable concert venue that has lasted. Forty years ago this month, concert promoter Scott Carswell put a $2,500 down payment on the old A&P grocery store on Lafayette Street that would eventually become known as The Moon.

I really like that place.

“I think $2,500 is all the money that I had at the time,” Carswell said and laughed. “I don’t think anyone thought we would last six months.”

Yet he has thrived.

Theme-free, thankfully

In the mid-‘80s, when The Moon opened its door, nightclubs were supposed to have a theme. You know, like the nearby, long-gone Studebakers that had a shiny “Grease”/’50s motif. Instead, Carswell took an egalitarian approach.

Everyone was welcome. Mix it up: Florida State students, the FAMU crowds, the line-dancers wearing cowboy hats on Stetsons on the Moon each Friday, Grown Folks Night for an older audiences, dinner theater, the Press Skits, Opening Nights concerts, DJ Demp Week, fashion shows, daddy-daughter dances, fundraising charity functions, the Pyramid Players, political watch parties on election nights, private celebrations, local bands, a space for acts to perform in case of rain at Word of South festival in Cascades Park just down the road, you name it.

“Nobody could pigeon-hole us,” Carswell said. “Still can’t.”

The New Wave pop band The Producers kicked off the concerts at The Moon, which can hold 1,500 people, and never looked back. There were rap acts: OutKast, The Sugarhill Gang, 2 Live Crew, Method Man. Alt-rock: Husker Du, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pixies, The Replacements.

Mainstream rock: Pat Benatar, David Lee Roth, Eddie Money, Meat Loaf. Country: Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kenny Chesney, The Judds. Pop: Hall & Oates, Aimee Mann, American Authors. Funk: Royal Crescent Mob, The Neville Brothers, George Clinton (who moved to town in the early ‘90s thanks mostly to Carswell and The Moon).

Then there were all the blues, reggae, New Orleans acts, tribute bands … more than 750 full-fledge concerts so far and counting.

‘Are all concerts this good?’

During a recent conversation, Carswell and I reminisced about what may have been The Moon’s best live act.

In 2003, veteran soundman Bruce Jones, who has worked with everyone from Bowie to Counting Crows to Rick James, steered his then-employer, gravely singer Joe Cocker, to The Moon. Jones, who lives in Tallahassee when he’s not on the road, has been friends with Carswell for years.

“Cocker happened because of Bruce,” Carswell said.

As a kid, I became an instant fan of Cocker with his incendiary version of “With a Little Help from My Friends” in the film “Woodstock.” He belted a Beatles tune better than the Beatles, which is hard to do. No wonder Cocker was the first rock star poster on my bedroom wall.

During the late ‘70s, I finally got to see Cocker live in Dothan, Alabama. His horn players accidentally lit a stage carpet on fire. I don’t think Cocker noticed the brief blaze that night because he was, uh, how shall we say, discombobulated. Fame and strong drink had not been kind to him.

Cocker had straightened up by 2003, but I feared he had lost vocal chops during all the hard living. I didn’t hold out much hope as I entered The Moon with my wife, my nephew and his college-age date, Misty.

Boy, was I wrong. Cocker came out in full roar as his crackerjack band nailed such tunes as “Hitchcock Railway,” “Delta Lady,” “Darling Be Home Soon” and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” The sold-out crowd, along with everyone at my table, went nuts.

On the way out, Misty, who led a sheltered childhood and had just attended her first rock concert, asked me, “You’ve seen a lot shows, are all of them this good?”

“No,” I said without having to think about it. “Most can’t even come close to this. You saw something very rare tonight.”

In 2024, nearly everyone in Tallahassee takes The Moon for granted, it’s just part of the landscape. Then a scorcher like the Cocker concert comes along and reminds the public how much The Moon is needed.

“Can you name another place like The Moon’s that’s had the same owner for 40 years?” Carswell asked me. “I can’t.”

Here’s to 40 more.

Mark Hinson is a former senior writer at The Tallahassee Democrat. His email is [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee music venue The Moon shines bright after 40 years